BILL NUMBER: SB 4	CHAPTERED  10/10/99

	CHAPTER   604
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   OCTOBER 10, 1999
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR   OCTOBER 5, 1999
	PASSED THE SENATE   SEPTEMBER 7, 1999
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY   SEPTEMBER 3, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   AUGUST 30, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   JULY 13, 1999

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Johannessen

                        DECEMBER 7, 1998

   An act to amend the heading of Division 6 (commencing with Section
1170) of, and to add Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 1400) to
Division 6 of, the Military and Veterans Code, relating to veterans,
making an appropriation therefor, and declaring the urgency thereof,
to take effect immediately.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 4, Johannessen.  Northern California Veterans Cemetery.
   Existing law requires the Department of Veterans Affairs, in
voluntary cooperation with the Shasta County Board of Supervisors, to
develop a proposal for a veterans cemetery in Shasta County that
will be owned and operated by the state.  Existing law also provides
that that proposal shall be submitted to the Legislature by July 1,
1997.
   This bill would require the department, in voluntary cooperation
with the Shasta County Board of Supervisors and the boards of
supervisors of other participating northern California counties, as
specified, to design, develop, and construct a state-owned and
state-operated Northern California Veterans Cemetery to be located in
northern California.  The bill also would (1) require the department
to oversee and coordinate the design, development, and construction
of the cemetery, (2) establish fees for interment in the cemetery of
spouses and children of honorably discharged veterans, (3) establish
the Northern California Veterans Cemetery Master Development Fund, a
continuously appropriated fund, for the design, development,
construction, and equipping of the cemetery, and (4) establish the
Northern California Veterans Cemetery Perpetual Maintenance Fund for
the maintenance of the cemetery.
   The bill would appropriate $520,000 from the General Fund, with
$70,000 of that amount appropriated to the department for the
oversight and coordination duties specified above and $450,000
appropriated to the Northern California Veterans Cemetery Master
Development Fund for the Master Development Plan of the cemetery.
   The bill would require the department to apply to the State
Cemetery Grant Program of the federal Department of Veterans Affairs
for a grant of not more than $6,000,000, which amount represents 100%
of the estimated cost for designing, developing, constructing, and
equipping the cemetery.
   The bill would prohibit expenditure of the money appropriated to
the department and the fund until the department has received written
approval of the specified grant request and a commitment from the
federal State Cemetery Grant Program that the funds appropriated
under the grant are available for expenditure by the state, except
that the department would be authorized to expend an amount necessary
for completion of the grant proposal from the money appropriated to
the fund.
   The bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an
urgency statute.
   Appropriation:  yes.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  The heading of Division 6 (commencing with Section
1170) of the Military and Veterans Code is amended to read:

      DIVISION 6.  VETERANS BUILDINGS, MEMORIALS, AND CEMETERIES

  SEC. 2.  Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 1400) is added to
Division 6 of the Military and Veterans Code, to read:

      CHAPTER 9.  NORTHERN CALIFORNIA VETERANS CEMETERY

   1400.  (a) (1) The Department of Veterans Affairs, in voluntary
cooperation with the Shasta County Board of Supervisors and the
boards of supervisors of other participating northern California
counties as specified in Section 1401, shall design, develop, and
construct a state-owned and state-operated Northern California
Veterans Cemetery which shall be located in northern California.
   (2) The department shall oversee and coordinate the design,
development, and construction of the cemetery.
   (b) (1) Those eligible for interment in the cemetery are all
honorably discharged veterans and their spouses and children.  A fee
of five hundred dollars ($500) shall be charged for each spouse or
child interred in the cemetery.
   (2) For the purposes of this subdivision, the department shall
adopt regulations to specify the eligibility requirements for
interment in the cemetery.
   (3) All fees received pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be deposited
in the Northern California Veterans Cemetery Perpetual Maintenance
Fund created pursuant to Section 1401.
   1401.  (a) For the purposes of Section 1400, the Shasta County
Board of Supervisors may join with other northern California counties
including, but not limited to, the Counties of Colusa, Del Norte,
Glenn, Humboldt, Lassen, Mendocino, Modoc, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra,
Siskiyou, Tehama, and Trinity, to design, develop, and construct the
cemetery.
   (b) All moneys received for the design, development, and
construction of the cemetery shall be deposited in the Northern
California Veterans Cemetery Master Development Fund, which is hereby
created in the State Treasury.  Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the
Government Code, money in the fund is continuously appropriated to
the department for the purpose of designing, developing,
constructing, and equipping the cemetery.  Moneys appropriated by the
Legislature for these purposes shall also be deposited in the fund.

   (c) (1) All moneys received for the maintenance of the cemetery,
including moneys received pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section
1400, shall be deposited in the Northern California Veterans Cemetery
Perpetual Maintenance Fund, which is hereby created in the State
Treasury.  Any state funding for the annual maintenance of the
cemetery shall be appropriated by the Legislature in the annual
Budget Act.
   (2) It is estimated that, after the construction of the cemetery,
four hundred fifty thousand dollars ($450,000) should be appropriated
annually by the state or the participating northern California
counties, or both, to the department for the operating costs of the
cemetery.
   (3) Expenditures for maintenance may not be more than six hundred
thousand dollars ($600,000) per calendar year.
  SEC. 3.  The Legislature hereby appropriates five hundred twenty
thousand dollars ($520,000) from the General Fund as follows:
   (a) Seventy thousand dollars ($70,000) to the Department of
Veterans Affairs for carrying out the provisions of paragraph (2) of
subdivision (a) of Section 1400 of the Military and Veterans Code.
   (b) Four hundred fifty thousand dollars ($450,000) to the Northern
California Veterans Cemetery Master Development Fund for the Master
Development Plan of the Northern California Veterans Cemetery
pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 1400 of the
Military amd Veterans Code.
  SEC. 4.  It is the intent of the Legislature that the state apply
for and receive the maximum amount of federal funds available for the
construction and development of the Northern California Veterans
Cemetery.  Accordingly, both of the following shall apply to funding
of the cemetery:
   (a) The Department of Veterans Affairs shall apply to the State
Cemetery Grant Program of the federal Department of Veterans Affairs
for a grant of not more than six million dollars ($6,000,000), which
amount represents 100 percent of the estimated cost for designing,
developing, constructing, and equipping the cemetery.
   (b) The money appropriated under Section 3 of this act may not be
expended until the Department of Veterans Affairs has received
written approval of the grant requested under subdivision (a) and a
commitment from the federal State Cemetery Grant Program that the
funds appropriated under the grant are available for expenditure by
the state, except that the department may expend an amount necessary
for completion of the grant proposal from the funds appropriated
under subdivision (b) of that Section 3.
  SEC. 5.  This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect.  The facts constituting the necessity are:
   In order to commence with the design, development, and
construction of the Northern California Veterans Cemetery at the
earliest possible time, it is necessary that this act take effect
immediately.
